And by the way, such systems already exist
1) https://crypto.cat (after a few bad releases it looks like they got it right... probably)
2) https://github.com/ChatSecure for iOS
There are a few more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-the-Record_Messaging#Nativ...
The reason I chose Yahoo, was that they have the marketing clout and the brand to pull this off. This needs to be something that really replaces email, and kicks in into obscurity. Otherwise it is just another hacker tool used by a minority of privacy conscious geeks like us.
We need a trusted company outside of jurisdiction of all these insane new laws.
Sure, the traffic would still go through US, but that can be encrypted (with something better than SSL).
They could also spend billions buying every block of lego to create a Yahoo logo visible from space. Which makes about as much sense as introducing significant legal risks to their business all for a few thousand new email accounts.
http://knowledge.allianz.com/environment/energy/?246/sea-sna...